Plans for New Homes by Wincanton Hospital on Dancing Lane

The announcement that Hopkins Developments Ltd is planning to build some 58 houses on the field behind the hospital has come as a bit of a surprise to the people of the town, but today 13th December a consultation was arranged and diagrams displayed and kindly men in suits were there to make it all understandable. They assured me that the next step in the process will be to analyse all the comments that come their way and then decide what adjustments are needed before submitting their plans to the District Council. When these adjustments are made they will send the Window PDF files showing the modifications, so we might comment a second time. It still means that if you wish to influence this process and have a point to make, now is the time to do it.

IF YOU LOOK HARD YOU WILL SEE THEY SAY THEY WILL ACCEPT COMMENTS MADE BY THE END OF DECEMBER - THAT IS IN TWO AND A HALF WEEKS TIME, INCLUDING CHRISTMAS.

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Oh yes! Your Opinions Matter says Matthew Kendrick so leave us your comment and send on a copy to Matthew.

This then is the Preliminary Proposal. As you see it is for properties to be built on the field behind the current hospital car park.

And here you can see how the new site will relate to the rest of the town.

The top illustration makes it appear that Dancing Lane continues as a road down to Verrington Lane. In fact it becomes a rather steep and rough pedestrian track. There is also an assertion that it would take "approx 12 mins" to walk to town from the new estate. By what route? Optimistic? And what if you are elderly? Please note the "affordable housing" is aimed at the elderly.

Next we have this interesting document headed Contraints and Opportunities. It is not made clear what the authors see as being a "constraint" and what they think is an "opportunity." What do you think of them? Try expressing each point in your own words and see if they make sense. When you have done that perhaps you would like to sign up and fill in a comment form and tell us what you think.

And here you have it. The detailed plan for the new 58 homes. What do you think? Go on, tell us.

Note the small print. "We look forward to receiving your comments and will collate your responses, along with any final responses received from statutary consultees (the Highways Authority, Environment Agency, South Somerset technical Officers etc.,) by the end of December 2010.

A formal planning application will be submitted to South Somerset in January 2011.

So there is no time to lose. Have a good look. Possibly go up and look at the site yourself and let us know what you think. Show the days of silent acquiescence are over. The Big Society is full of Active Articulate Citizens!

Comments

Posts: 1

Clarification Required for Planned Access
Reply #1 on : Sat December 18, 2010, 16:58:51

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I would very much appreciate confirmation of the planned access for this proposed housing. Is it really planned to create a road from the current steep footpath running between Verrington Lane and Dancing Lane? If so, I would strongly object.

I live more-or-less directly below the proposed development, just beyond the old railway line at the bottom of Old Hill (and by the way I received absolutely nothing through MY letterbox about these proposals). We have no off-street parking unfortunately, and used to park outside the house on the road. We've had two cars written off in the last two years at a cost of approximately £14,000 to our insurers, as a result of traffic picking up speed far too quickly on their way out of town along North Street and smashing into our car. This might sound unrelated to the proposed new development but for safety, we are now forced to park our car around the corner in Verrington Lane, which is very quiet. If Verrington Lane becomes the access for the new housing, many times more traffic will be turning into this quiet, narrow lane and our vehicle will again be in an impossible position.

I may be wrong and there is no plan for this new road to be built in place of the current footpath. In any case, I believe it is totally unsuitable for the amount of traffic the new housing will generate.

Please can someone "in the know" clarify this?

And if it's a 12 minute walk into town from the hospital (especially for the elderly) then I'm a Russian.

Dasvidania

chrisjwatts
Posts: 1

Planning app refused
Reply #2 on : Sun October 16, 2011, 23:03:33

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In this weeks planning summary (8th to 18th Oct 2011).Application No: 11/02835/OUT, which looks like this development, has been refused.

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